Parenting and Bipolar Disorder

Our research

As we all know, parenting can be both a rewarding and stressful experience. For parents who also have bipolar disorder, their symptoms can sometimes make parenting even more of a struggle. 

A lot of previous research looking at parenting and mental health highlights the negative outcomes for both the parent with bipolar disorder and their children. We have just completed an interview study of parents and children. The aim of this research was to develop an understanding of the experience of families where a parent has bipolar disorder, in order to contribute to the development of support and interventions for future families who might need it.

• We feel it is important to recognise the strengths of parents with bipolar disorder as well as any difficulties; the positive experiences they have as well as the negative, in order to provide a more balanced perspective. This was done by carrying out interviews with parents who have bipolar disorder.

We also hope to gain children's experiences of family life. This can provide useful and important information, which is often forgotten in research. This was done via a computer package designed for children which is regularly used by health professionals to interview children called In My Shoes.

This research has been approved by the School of Psychological Sciences Ethics Committee, permission numbers 614/07P and 615/07P.